Tactics

Tactics are the skills that allow a player or team to use their abilities to the best possible advantage — the tactical actions and other measures adopted before or during a competition for successful participation. Tactics have been defined as:

• actions and strategies planned to achieve an overall objective (in sport, predominantly to win);
• the intelligent or creative application of skills during competition;
• the methods by which performers try to outwit (get the better of) an opponent.

Tactical preparation uses organised exercises, trials, mental drills and modelling to develop an athlete's cognitive and competitive tactics, so they can make the most effective use of their motor and technical abilities in competition. Strategy and tactics are not the same: strategy is the overall plan for successful participation, while tactics are the actual realisation of that strategy in practice.

Factors affecting tactics

• a) the opposition — including their strengths and weaknesses;
• b) the players available for selection;
• c) the importance of the game or match;
• d) possibly even the weather.

Elements that develop tactical understanding

Tactical awareness grows as a player learns to use space, force and time (and, at an advanced level, to read self and others). A simple teaching grid pairs a game focus and the depth of play with the components of tactical awareness — each cell is a guiding question the player learns to answer: